Hams in India pro­vide emer­gency communications
In north­ern India, the ear­ly sea­son­al mon­soon rains are three times as heavy as usu­al, caus­ing flood­ing, mud­slides and a death toll of at least 800. The dis­as­ter caught every­one by surprise.

The emer­gency com­mu­ni­ca­tions pro­vid­ed by radio ama­teurs are well known to dis­as­ter author­i­ties and the gov­ern­ment, through their pre­pared­ness drills and oth­er presentations. 

Indi­a’s Nation­al Coor­di­na­tor for Dis­as­ter Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Jayu Mbide VU2JAU said two ama­teur radio sta­tions were active in the dis­as­ter area, at Dehrad­um and Uttark­shi. He has per­son­al­ly been in con­tact with them.

They have been send­ing mes­sages via coor­di­nat­ing sta­tions in Gwalior, New Del­hi and else­where. The emer­gency com­mu­ni­ca­tions they pro­vide will con­tin­ue for some time.

Gov­ern­ment offi­cials esti­mate 33,000 peo­ple have been res­cued so far and around 63,000 are missing. 

Res­cue efforts involv­ing sol­diers are con­tin­u­ing, and more than 50 air force heli­copters have dropped food, water and med­ical sup­plies to peo­ple trapped by the flood.

- Jim Lin­ton VK3PC, Chair­man IARU Region 3 Dis­as­ter Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Com­mit­tee, with help from India’s Nation­al Coor­di­na­tor for Dis­as­ter Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Jayu Mbide VU2JAU.